Tipline Mysteries: Dial 1 for Murder review

Tipline Mysteries: Dial 1 for Murder seems to be the first in a new Hallmark Channel series of mysteries. I can’t find anything definitive about that, but it fits the pattern with Hallmark mysteries.

In Tipline Mysteries: Dial 1 for Murder, an anonymous call answered by Detroit Free Press tipline operator Maddie Moore (Holland Roden) says there would be a jewelry store robbery that night. When Maddie asked for details, the caller hung up.

Maddie is an amateur sleuth. She keeps a police scanner going on her phone and loves solving mysteries.

Maddie tries to tip off her favorite cop and finds he’s retired. So she heads to the police station where she meets the newly installed Detective Beeks (Chris McNally). She explains the tip to him, but with no information to go on, there’s nothing he can do.

When there is a jewelry store robbery that results in a murder, Maddie gets more involved in taking tips and ideas and information to the police. She figures out what caused the murder and finds some suspects. Captain Nyland (Jill Teed) hears Maddie’s ideas, sees they are good ones, and tells Det. Beeks to work with her. She makes Maddie a Volunteer Reserve Officer for Detroit Metro PD, or RO for short.

I was skeptical that such a thing as a RO actually existed, but looked it up after the movie ended and learned that it really does. Kind of knocked my original “that would never happen” judgement about this movie out the window.

In working through various clues, Maddie is always ahead of Det. Beeks figuring things out. She solves the case before he can even get there. At the end, Captain Nyland says they make a good team and should continue working together. That’s a set up for more Tipline Mysteries from Hallmark, if I’m right.

This wasn’t a romance. It was about establishing some rapport, some chemistry and some respect between the amateur detective and the real detective. The two main characters were likeable and clever.

A small cast, not many sets, and not many outdoor shots made me think they were trying to save money while still telling an interesting story. It was a wholesome, not too scary, no bad language Hallmark movie with a couple of good characters.

The film was directed by Cyndi Harmon and Jessica Harmon – a mother and daughter directing team.

You can see it on Hallmark Movies Now or on Peacock.